SurePayroll ties for the No. 7 spot in our Best Payroll Software ratings for 2023 and ties for No. 2 in our rating of the Best Cheap Payroll Software behind Patriot. SurePayroll was founded in 2000 and was acquired by Paychex in 2011. The company focuses exclusively on providing payroll solutions and HR services for small businesses.
Its two payroll plans are Full Service, which includes preparing and filing your company’s tax returns in addition to other payroll operations, and No Tax Filing, which calculates your payroll taxes and provides other payroll services but doesn’t prepare or file your tax returns.
SurePayroll also offers nanny and household payroll services for homeowners who employ household help, as well as benefits and HR services for small businesses. The company partners with accountants to allow them to resell SurePayroll’s payroll services to their clients.
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SurePayroll specializes in meeting the payroll and HR needs of small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The company is noteworthy for offering some of the least-expensive payroll services of the companies in our ratings, along with our top pick for cheap payroll software, Patriot.
SurePayroll’s lowest-priced payroll plan is No Tax Filing, which calculates your business’s payroll taxes and performs other payroll tasks but lets you prepare and file the company’s tax returns yourself. No Tax Filing costs $19.99 a month plus $4.00 per employee.
The other payroll package sold by SurePayroll is Full Service, a plan that includes preparing and filing your company’s tax returns in addition to the payroll processing features of the No Tax Filing package. Full Service is priced at $29.99 a month plus $5.00 per employee.
Both No Tax Filing and Full Service come with a full complement of the payroll services most small businesses need:
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Support for multiple pay rates and bonuses
- Automatic payroll runs that send reminders before running and let you make changes manually
- New hire reporting
- Support for direct deposits and online pay stubs
Along with tax preparation and filing, SurePayroll’s Full Service package provides 2-day payroll processing, although next-day processing is available when payrolls are scheduled prior to 3:00 p.m. Central Time (CT) the day before. Same-day processing of payroll is offered when scheduled by 10:30 a.m. CT.
Both the No Tax Filing and Full-Service plans come with toll-free telephone customer support in English and Spanish from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CT Monday to Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT on Saturdays. You can also reach the company’s support staff via chat during times when the telephone support line isn’t operating. SurePayroll promises to respond to chat messages sent during off hours by the next day.
For homeowners who employ a nanny or other household staff, SurePayroll offers a payroll service geared to their needs. The service costs $49.99 a month plus $10.00 per employee and includes calculating deductions for Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and state taxes. SurePayroll will file an IRS Form 1040-ES on your behalf and provide a signature-ready Schedule H form to attach to your 1040 return.
In addition to payroll services, SurePayroll offers small businesses help with their benefits and HR operations:
- Workers' compensation insurance and other small-business insurance coverage
- 401(k) retirement plans that cover both traditional 401(k) and Safe Harbor 401(k)
- Health insurance via the Paychex Insurance Agency
- Pre-employment screening that includes background checks, drug screening, and behavior assessments
While SurePayroll’s terms and conditions don’t mention any money-back guarantees or free trials, the company has previously run promotions for new customers for up to six months of free service if they meet certain conditions. Be sure to check the SurePayroll site for more information if you are preparing to purchase a plan.
SurePayroll’s low-priced No Tax Filing payroll processing plan will appeal to small businesses that have relatively basic payroll needs and don’t mind preparing and filing their own tax returns. However, for only slightly more money each month, the company’s Full Service package takes care of tax filing for you.
The lack of third-party integrations and the limit of fewer than 10 employees make SurePayroll a poor choice for small businesses that don’t intend to remain small businesses, so be sure to carefully consider your company’s plans to scale before jumping in.
SurePayroll’s payroll plans cost $19.99 a month plus $4.00 per employee for No Tax Filing, and $29.99 a month plus $5.00 per employee for Full Service. The company’s payroll service for homeowners who employ nannies or other home workers costs $49.99 a month plus $10.00 per employee.
Several payroll features are available at an extra price, including integration with accounting software, multi-state and local tax filing, and time-clock integration. You can contact the company to request a quote by providing some information about your business in an online form and then waiting for a sales rep to contact you. The sales staff can also be reached via chat to set up an appointment with a representative.
SurePayroll’s two payroll processing plans for small businesses are No Tax Filing and Full Service. Several ancillary payroll services, such as accounting software integration and time clock integration, are available for additional fees.
The company provides a payroll service for homeowners who hire a nanny or other worker in their home, as well as a range of benefits and HR services for small businesses.
No Tax Filing provides the basic payroll features that a business with fewer than 10 employees requires:
- Calculation of payroll taxes
- Unlimited payroll runs
- Multiple pay rates and bonuses
- Automatic payroll processing
- New-hire reporting
- Payment by direct deposit
- Online pay stubs
The plan costs $19.99 a month plus $4.00 per employee.
Full Service adds two key features to those included with the No Tax Filing plan:
- Your company’s payroll taxes are paid and filed by SurePayroll (the No Tax Filing plan calculates your taxes but doesn’t pay them or file your returns).
- Two-day payroll processing
The plan costs $29.99 a month plus $5.00 per employee.
Several add-on payroll services are sold separately by SurePayroll:
- Local tax filing costs $9.99 a month
- Multi-state tax filing costs $9.99 a month
- Integration with accounting software such as Quickbooks or FreshBooks costs $4.99 a month
- Integration with the stratus time time clock service costs $5 a month plus $3 a month for each employee
- Integration with one of the other time clock systems SurePayroll supports costs $9.99 a month
The company notes that additional charges per payroll may apply for some of these services.
SurePayroll gives businesses with fewer than 10 employees a complete payroll package at a great price, earning the company the No. 2 spot on our list of Best Cheap Payroll Software. SurePayroll’s No Tax Filing plan is a viable option for businesses that want to handle their own tax preparation and filing and save some money without sacrificing payroll features. However, many businesses with fewer than 10 employees may want to link their payroll processing to their accounting software and other third-party business tools, which costs extra with SurePayroll.
To purchase SurePayroll’s No Tax Filing or Full-Service payroll package, click Get My Payroll Quote on the company’s home page to open an online form. You can also enter the signup information using the View Our Pricing & Plans widget at the top of the page.
Choose your payroll type from the six options in the dropdown menu:
- General Business
- Household/Nanny
- Officer Only/S-Corp
- Restaurant w/Tips
- Nonprofit Organization
- Church/Clergy
Enter your name, email address, and phone number, and then click the “Get Started” button. Complete the information requested in the Getting Started screen and click the “Sign up” button. You’re prompted to create an account by supplying a username and password. Click Continue and enter a phone number to receive your login security code. Select either “Text message” or “Voice call” and click Continue.
After you enter the access code, you’re prompted to save the recovery code. Once you’ve saved the code, check the confirmation box and click Continue again. This opens your SurePayroll account page, where you’re instructed to have information about your business on hand:
- Your federal tax ID number
- Personal, payment, and tax information for each of your employees
- Business tax information
- Your bank account details
Click “Let’s go” to begin the enrollment process, which entails choosing either Business or Household and then answering questions about your company’s payroll needs. Your account dashboard prompts you to enter information in five categories:
- About you (some of this information is added automatically)
- Company information
- Company employees
- Federal and state taxes
- Payroll bank account
Once you’ve added the required information, click Finish to review the entries and address any incomplete fields.
SurePayroll vs. Patriot
Patriot Software sells payroll and accounting software for businesses with 1 to 500 employees. It is our No. 1 choice for Best Cheap Payroll Software for providing a Basic payroll plan that costs only $17 a month plus $4 per employee or contractor.
Patriot’s Basic payroll plan includes unlimited payrolls, any payroll frequency (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly), support for multiple locations, integration with Intuit Quickbooks and Patriot’s own accounting software, up to five different pay rates for each employee, time and attendance integration, and 401(k) integration via Vestwell. Free two-day direct deposit is available to “qualified” customers rather than the standard 4-day processing.
The company’s Full Service package costs $37 a month plus $4 per employee or contractor. It has all the features of the Basic plan plus filing and depositing of your business’s federal, state, and local payroll taxes, as well as your year-end payroll tax filings.
Both of Patriot’s payroll plans come with a 30-day free trial as well as a guarantee of accuracy and timeliness that promises to pay penalties or interest that result from any errors made by Patriot. The company’s add-on services include time and attendance for an additional $6 a month plus $2 per employee and HR software priced at $6 a month plus $2 per employee.
Patriot’s Basic payroll package is similar to SurePayroll’s No Tax Filing plan, although SurePayroll’s least-expensive offering doesn’t include workers' compensation integration, and it charges extra for integration with accounting software, which is included with Patriot’s Basic and Full Service plans. Patriot’s payroll solutions also provide free 401(k) integration via the Vestwell service, while SurePayroll’s Traditional and Safe Harbor 401(k) plans to require an additional monthly fee.
However, Patriot’s payroll integrations are more limited than those available from SurePayroll. Patriot’s payroll processing links to Quickbooks and the company’s own accounting system but not to other accounting software. By contrast, SurePayroll’s No Tax Filing and Full-Service plans work with more than a half dozen accounting services as well as more than 20-time clock services (Patriot offers its own time and attendance solution).
For more information, check out our full Patriot review.
SurePayroll vs. Square
Square ties with SurePayroll at No. 7 in our ratings of both the Best Payroll Software and the Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses. Along with its payroll solutions, Square sells a full range of business services for businesses of all types and sizes, whereas SurePayroll focuses on providing payroll and HR services to companies with fewer than 10 employees.
Square Payroll comes in two versions:
- The first is for paying employees and contractors and costs $35 a month plus $5 per person. It includes unlimited payroll runs, automatic payroll tax calculations, tax filing and payments, multistate payroll, timecards, an app for employees, mailing of W-2s and 1099-NECs, and payments by check, direct deposit, or Cash App.
- The second pays contractors only and costs $5 a month per person paid. The plan comes with unlimited pay runs, mailing of 1099-NECs, and payment by check, direct deposit, or Cash App.
Both of Square’s payroll plans include live support from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PT on weekdays, as well as free seasonal inactivity. By combining your payroll subscription with Square’s Team Management service, you can integrate benefits management with payroll processing. Benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, and workers' compensation. Square also helps you get a free Employer Identification Number (EIN).
You can import time cards from Square’s POS systems as well as from the company’s Team App or from third-party partners. Square’s Instant Payroll feature does away with the four-day wait for payment by allowing companies to store and use funds in their account balance to deliver employees’ pay on the next business day for direct deposits and instantly when workers use the Cash App.
Square’s payroll processing service is most useful to businesses that currently use Square’s POS and other commerce and marketing services because of the tight integration of its payroll processing with your business’s other activities. The company promotes its ability to provide a single dashboard that retailers and other companies can use to manage all aspects of their operations.
Small businesses looking for an affordable payroll solution with the features they need and the ability to integrate with popular accounting and time-clock software may find SurePayroll’s No Tax Filing and Full Service plans to meet their needs. Retailers and other firms that are current Square clients or that are looking for a single vendor for all their management support may find the added expense of Square’s payroll solutions a strategic investment.
For more information, check out our full Square review.
